Monthly Archives: September 2014

Several generations of Baloch line up in Kandahar, southeast Afghanistan

The war-torn country is witnessing the unprecedented revival of a long-neglected community

By Karlos Zurutuza

Abdul Sattar Pordili

“We are the only nation that has fluent relations with all the rest in the country,” claims Abdul Sattar Purdely. A former MP during the rule of Mohammad Najibullah (1987-1992), Purdely today is a professor, writer, and one of the main advocates for the Baloch language and culture in Afghanistan. In his late sixties, he looks tireless.

“In coordination with the Afghan Ministry of Education, I have written the schoolbooks in Balochi up to the 8th grade (15 years old) and they’re already being used at three schools,” Purdely tells The Diplomat just before producing the full set of volumes.

Baloch activists on violence in Balochistan and the struggle for self-determination.

By Vanessa Thevathasan and Monomita Raksit

A recent escalation in violence underscores the pressing need for a human rights-based solution to the challenges, violations and brutality faced by the Baloch people. Vanessa Thevathasan and Monomita Raksitrecently spoke with human rights and political activists, closely linked with the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, on the case for Balochistan self-determination. For security reasons, the names of the activists have been withheld.

Why are you pushing for self-determination for Balochistan?

The Baloch nation is one of the most ancient in the region. Baloch lived in their homeland for thousands of years and had their own sovereign state until the arrival of the British in 1839. British colonialism and subsequent Persian and Punjabi Muslim occupations of Balochistan are illegal and immoral. Baloch has the same rights as any other free nation, to be free from subjugation and to determine its own affairs and future. Freedom is our most natural, inherent right. In its absence there will never be democracy, stability, security and prosperity in the region.

Contrary to how the media describes the region, Balochistan is not restive. And it is not troubled. Rather, it is at war. And all the players–political and armed–are battling for its soul. CrisisBalochistan first interviewed Baloch rebel leader Dr. Allah Nazar in 2011. Following a recent battle in the town of Dasht, in which the ISIS was first mentioned in relation to Balochistan, we reached out to Dr. Nazar for his comments. It was Dr. Nazar’s group, the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), that engaged the Lashkar-e-Khurasan, a group headed by Iranian national Mullah Omar and recently linked to the ISIS in Dasht.

In our 2011 interview, Dr. Nazar raised the issue of intelligence agency-sponsored radicalization efforts in Balochistan, but he is not the only one with early warnings of worse things to come…. Over the years journalist Malik Siraj Akbar and others have written of well-financed programs that are now fostering head-spinning violence in Pakistan. Of this violence, Jan Mohammad Buledi, spokesperson for the chief minister of Balochistan, says with great understatement, “To some extent, the situation is very confusing.”